Spirit in the Night
by TuxedoCat42
Summary: This is a story about the Scooby-Gang in San Francisco several years after closing the Hellmouth at Sunnydale. Buffy and Dawn now reside in San Fran and after an increase in demonic activity in the area, the others join them to protect the city. This task is complicated by how everyone's relationships have changed since leaving Sunnydale. There is a focus on Buffy/Giles.
1. When We Were Young

_Author Note:_

 _Okay, so I wrote this last December after I marathoned Buffy. I still have a Law & Order: SVU story in progress but after watching so much Buffy, this was all that I could write about. I don't like leaving stories unfinished so I plan to go back to that SVU story, but I'm hoping that by editing and publishing this, I get the inspiration to start writing this story again to finish it._

 _I roughly have 5-7 chapters already written and waiting to be published. So I'll see if I can't tie up this story as I'm going through these chapters._

 _FYI: I personally ship Buffy and Spike but I couldn't bring myself to write about them. Their relationship didn't work for me in that respect. But I can fathom a relationship between her and Giles given the right circumstances after the closing of the Hellmouth at Sunnydale. I reference to some events of the comic books, but for the most part, they don't matter for this story._

* * *

Peeping through the window, he watched her. She was glowing as though she had found her calling. Nothing that he had heard from others could prepare him for what he was witnessing. She stood there commanding attention from those in front of her. From what he had seen, she wasn't taking any prisoners. When one began to step out of line, she modified tactics and showed no mercy. The four-hundred-word essay turned into an eight-hundred-word essay—due Monday, it was Friday. He smirked, she used to think that he went hard on her.

The sudden clattering of the school bell directly above his head knocked Giles off balance and caused him to fall through the open classroom door. When he regained his footing, he looked to find Buffy and her 10th grade class staring at him.

"This door…," he said as he swung it back and forth, "Do you hear that? It needs greased. Very obnoxious."

The students laughed at the random British man inspecting their classroom as they walked out. He awkwardly held the door open until the last student exited.

Buffy stood surprised, "What are you doing here, Giles?"

"I…um…. I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to intrude."

"I thought your plane wasn't supposed to arrive for another day."

"It wasn't. A flight changed on me a couple of days ago in Johannesburg, and that messed my connecting flight into Luxembourg…. Long story short, this is just the way it worked out."

She was curt, "Is there a reason you came here?"

He frowned. She still didn't want anything to do with him.

"No, just thought I would stop in….." He stepped to leave, "I'll go, I shouldn't have come unannounced."

"Giles." He turned back to face her, "It's fine. Have you spoken to anyone? Everyone is having dinner tonight at my and Dawn's place."

"Yes, I know. Dawn invited me already. I spoke with her this morning…. She said that you were happy to have me a day early...so, naturally, I thought she told you that I was here."

Buffy's lips twisted, "No, must have slipped her mind."

A man about Buffy's age and dressed like a teacher busted through the door, "Hey, Buff! You're gonna be late!"

"Save me a seat, David. I'll be right there."

The man was smiling ear to ear, "Winsor. Leather. Spoon. And Mrs. Tobor!"

An unexpected laugh came from Buffy. That word combination seemed to mean something to her.

"I'll be there in a minute, I promise."

"Suit yourself," the man said as he threw a look at Giles and left.

"I really should be going," Giles said the words so fast that it almost sounded like one word. "I shouldn't have bothered you at work." He turned for the door without looking back.

"I'll see you tonight, Giles."

* * *

The sound of the doorbell took Buffy out of her trance. She could hear Dawn's excited shriek as his voice echoed through the condo. While looking in mirror, she nervously smoothed her blouse down around herself. This was the first time since the destruction of Sunnydale that they all will be together. Willow and Robert flew in from Cleveland, Andrew came from England, Faith had been somewhere in Asia, and Xander only lived a few blocks away. She heard the door open and close again. With Willow, Xander, and Andrew already helping with dinner and Giles having already arrived, that must have been Faith or Robert. Or both.

Later, after everyone fished the main course, Buffy and Dawn grabbed the dessert while Willow took plates and silverware to the dining area.

"So are you going to offer Giles our loft?" Dawn asked.

"What?"

"You heard him, he couldn't find a hotel room."

"Faith, Robert and Andrew managed," Buffy retorted.

"They ordered their rooms online weeks ago. And it's fashion week!"

Buffy didn't respond and concentrated on unwrapping the cake and pie.

"….are you guys still fighting? Because you've hardly spoken to him all night…. You went to see him in England a few months back, I thought you kissed and made up."

"Dawn, I've told you that I'm not going to discuss it. That's between him and me. Watcher and slayer."

"So you didn't make-up," Dawn stated as a matter of fact.

Buffy growled, "Dawn…"

The little sister pushed harder, "Well, do you hate him so much that you would make him sleep in his rental car?"

"I DON'T HATE HIM!" Buffy regretted her volume immediately because the others could surely hear her around the corner. In a lower voice she said, "Dawn, yes, of course, I'm going to offer our loft to him. There's _no reason_ why I would _not_ let him stay here. Now let's get back."

When they returned to the table, Buffy ignored the inquiring looks from the others and scooped out the dessert.

"Okay, Giles, down to business," Willow took bite of brownie, "What's going on in Watcher's World that's causing so much commotion? Not that I mind them calling us all together, but it seems weird for them—of all places in the world—to want us to come to San Francisco. Does this specifically have to do with Buffy?"

Giles frowned, "No, we have no reason to believe that. I agree that it's _quite_ unsettling that of all the places in the world where there could be an unprecedented increase of demonic and vampire activity, it is here in San Francisco where Buffy primarily resides."

"But I'm not _The Slayer_ anymore," Buffy said, "I haven't been for four years. There are thousands of us! I'm not that special anymore."

"Yes, there may be thousands of you now, but you _are_ still _The Slayer,"_ he locked eyes with her from across the table, "You're _the one_ all the others slayers tell tales about. You may not be the sole slayer anymore, however, you _are still quite special._ "

He was giving her _that_ look. That look that he always gave her. Her mind shot back to the last time she saw him when she visited his home in Devon….

She tried to formulate another question but her tongue stuck in her throat.

Willow jumped in, "But it's not just the demons and vampires, is it? I feel some _very_ strong magic here. It's…it's different from anything I've experienced before."

"Yes, I fee-" Giles stopped abruptly and looked around, "Who said that?"

"No one said anything, G-Man," Xander replied.

"No, I heard a voice. I heard it earlier as well."

"God, not you too!" Dawn exclaimed.

Giles looked confused, "'Not me too', what?"

"Buffy has been hearing voices for months!"

Wordlessly, he turned to her and waited for her to reply.

Buffy straightened up and took a drink of water before speaking, "You're not crazy, Giles. I heard it too. I hear it all the time."

He leaned in and concentrated his eyes on a spot on the other side of the room.

"I can't make it out. Do you know what's being said?"

"No, it's like the words are there and I can hear them just fine but…at the same time they're indistinct."

"Yes… that's a good description," he looked at everyone, "And no one else can hear that?!"

Grumbling no, they shook they're heads.

"You don't hear it, Faith?" Robin asked.

"No, it's not a slayer thing. They're just nuts," she replied.

"How reassuring," Giles deadpanned.

Buffy suddenly piped in, "I think it's British."

"What?" Giles shook his head confused.

"More specially, it sounds English."

"You're telling me that you're being harassed by an English demon?"

"It did start after I visited you."

"Okay, but demons do not take our earthly accents. Unless, of course, it wants to. And then why would it pick an English accent?"

Andrew excitedly exclaimed, "Maybe this is like the Truman Show! We all actually hear the voice but we pretend not to so she doesn't find out the truth about her life!"

Everyone stared blankly at him.

Buffy continued, "I never said it was a demon, that was you."

"Yes, very well. I'll start looking into it."

"So will I," Willow said.

Giles inquired, "Do you hear it everywhere or just here at home?"

"Everywhere."

His brow furrowed, "San Francisco is under barrage and an _English_ mystical being is harassing Buffy… this has the makings of a terrible mess."

"I would have to agree, Giles," Robin spoke, "But rather than solving that tonight, we need to get out there and survey the city. People are dying every night and that's what we all came here to stop."

"Quite right. And it's almost dark. You guys should get out there."

Everyone stood to leave.

"You're not going to join us, Giles?" Willow asked.

"No, not tonight. I need to find somewhere to stay…. Then I have a backlog of materials that the council put together about San Francisco that I still need to go though."

Dawn cleared her throat and nudged Buffy.

"Giles," Buffy moved away from her sister, "If you need somewhere to stay, Dawn and I have a daybed in the loft upstairs…."

He looked surprised, "I don't want to intrude."

"You wouldn't be! Come on, Giles, it'd be like old times!" Dawn fought.

He uncomfortably watched Buffy from the corner of his eye, "I…no, I don't think so."

If Buffy was being honest with herself, she had her own reasons to want Giles nearby.

"Please, Giles, stay. I want you to, too… as well," Buffy said as she stumbled over her words, "We still have a lot of catching up to do."

* * *

Buffy stood at the bottom of the stairs of the loft that Giles was currently occupying. She listened for any sign that he may be awake such as his pacing or the turn of a page. But she heard nothing. Not that she particularly wanted to speak with him or anything. It's just that they had a lot to talk about, and now he was sleeping in _her_ apartment. Turning, she headed to her room.

"Buffy, is that you?" his voice echoed in a whisper.

"Yes."

"How was patrol?"

She smiled, it had been a long time since he'd asked her that. Slowly, she ascended the steps. The loft was at the end of the hallway, where the bedrooms and bathroom was located. It was by no means an open, airy, loft. The hardwood staircase twisted twice before exposing the small area that fit a daybed, desk, and built-in bookcases along two of the walls. The only thing that really kept it from looking like a closet was the small window above the bed, which Giles currently had open.

Reaching the top step, she stopped, "It was fine. I showed the city to everyone…. The Golden Gate Bridge, museums, art galleries, graveyards, demon bars, wicken temples, you know, the usual."

"Ah, yes," he was standing in the middle of the space, looking up from an iPad. Buffy took several moments absorb the scene. He was using a tablet, that's why she couldn't hear him turn any pages! Not only was Giles not using a book to read, he had a laptop open on the desk.

"Who are you and what have to done to Giles?" she asked flatly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Technology. You're using technology."

He stifled a laugh, "Well, it's not very reasonable for me to carry around a library whilst I travel, is it?

"I…guess not. Have you come across anything interesting in your research?"

"I really haven't looked at much. I was just getting done settling in. Dawn and I talked for a good while…. She filled me in on a lot that she couldn't fit into our limited phone conversations."

"…it's nice that you made that effort with her. It means a lot that wherever you were over the last seven years that you always called her at least once a week—no other man has given her that. It's the reason she pushed so hard to have you stay here."

Hurt flashed across his face, "I thought you wanted me here too."

"I do…." Buffy said in a hushed voice, "She just gives me a convenient excuse."

"Ehh.." he hesitated, "Are we okay?"

She shuffled uncomfortably at being put on the spot, "As far as I'm concerned, we are…. But we need to find a time to talk about things."

"Agreed…." He looked around.

The voice began again. They shared knowing looks.

"And about that, when on earth did that exactly start?"

Exhaustion was about to overtake her. It was almost five in the morning and she hadn't slept at all. Expecting a long conversation, she slid down the wall and sat on the top step.

"I don't know it's hard to pinpoint. It was after I got home from traveling over the summer. I guess, I could have picked up a demon where along the way."

"And it never occurred to you to even ask Willow about it?!"

"Things haven't only been stressed between you and me, Giles... After everyone one went their separate ways, we all... Well you know," she tried to explain without going into detail.

"I'm afraid I do," he took off his glasses and squeezed the bridge of his nose, "Things were tense before we left Sunnydale and that did nothing to help us _all_ from drifting apart after we went our separate ways. Dinner, though, went better than I expected."

"Yeah, it did... Anyways, she's been busy too, Giles. I did some research on my own," she gestured to the books around her, "But didn't find anything. Also, I Googled. Still nothing."

"And you just let it go?" he was incredulous.

"I honestly didn't know what was going on. I did a thorough job of researching it myself…. I was starting to think that it was just in my head. A brain tumor causing hallucinations."

"Oh, Buffy, please don't say that. Don't think it."

She shrugged, "It runs in the family."

"Well, I'm _going to_ find the actual cause _._ I understand, though, why you would feel as though you were hallucinating…. There's something different to it…." He sat down on the floor and leaned against the daybed, "I can't quite describe it. It's unique…. I've never felt it before."

"Yes, I know…. I don't think it's malevolent."

"Anything that invades my mind like this without an invite is malevolent as far as I'm concerned."

"Whatever it is, Giles, I have felt at peace with it." She let out a big yawn, "That's why I haven't been freaking out over it."

"Since when did you get tired?"

"Since I got old." she joked, "Not all of us have magic like you to keep us young."

He smirked, "Be good to the magic and it will be good to you."

She stood to leave, "Ah, is it possible to get that in a cream?"

He laughed. Buffy's humor made an appearance, maybe they weren't as far gone as he thought.

"Goodnight, Buffy."

"Goodnight, Giles."

* * *

 _A/N:_

 _Please let me know what you think! I would love everyone's input!_


	2. Change of Time

_A/N: Thank you, Guest, for reviewing!_

* * *

Giles stepped on the soggy soil. The air was fresh and there was a fine mist draping the endless rolling hills. Everything was green, everything was quiet. He didn't know how he got there. It was wilderness for as far as he could see.

He wondered for some time before climbing up a hill and finding Buffy sitting against a tree.

She jumped up in surprise, "What are you doing here?!"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing."

"This is my place!"

"Your place? Where is 'your place'?"

She threw her arms up, "Here."

"Yes, but geographically speaking, where are we?"

"Oh, I have no clue. There are no roads so there aren't exactly any road signs."

Rubbing his hands together, he exhaled and surveyed the area.

"Why were we brought here?"

She stood to join him, "I don't know. Nothing ever happens. It's just this."

"How often do you come here? HOW DO YOU GET HERE?!"

She smiled contently, "I don't know. I'm just here…. Sometimes I remember being here so clearly, and other times I don't really remember…. What do you think it means?"

"Honestly, I haven't the slightest idea."

* * *

Drinking a glass of water, Giles sat absentmindedly and watched Dawn flip pancakes. He couldn't grasp what was going on in his head. Something had startled him awake this morning, but I wasn't until he had gotten up and used the bathroom had he remembered his dream. It felt so distant in his memory. He was attempting to write down everything he remembered. Most importantly, he was trying to remember his conversations with Buffy. There was something said between them that was significant, but he couldn't, for the life of him, remember what it was. He'd wished Buffy was awake. Something in him, told him that was Buffy in his dream. He knew it sounded ridiculous, but something was going on that only effected the two of them.

His cell phone buzzed. It was Willow. They spoke briefly then he turned to dawn.

"I'm going to have to take that to go, I'm afraid."

"What's up?"

"Willow wants me to meet her at a park. She found a tree that is giving off inordinate amount of magic and wants me to help her analyze it."

"Should we wake Buffy?"

He thought for a second, "As much as I would like to speak with her, no, I don't believe we should. She seemed very tired last night after she got in from patrolling."

"She's been like that lately," Dawn said dismissively.

This irked him, "For how long exactly? Patrolling used to not phase her."

"I know…" she turned off the stove top, "Where are we going?"

"We are not going anywhere."

"Giles, don't play. I don't want to hear any of that crap. I have been doing patrols with everyone else! And I've been studying magic…. There is no discussion here."

Seven years was a long time for Dawn to have matured. Now he had two Summer's women to contend with.

"Dear Lord, fine."

* * *

"So nobody knows where the Buffster is?" Xander said as he plopped down on the couch.

Giles, Dawn, and Willow trudging through the many books in front of them at the dining table.

"She was still asleep when we left this morning and we haven't spoken to her," Giles said.

"She sent me a text that she would be gone the whole day, but she'd be back for patrolling tonight," Dawn added.

Willow suggestively asked Dawn, "You think she's spending the day with David?"

"Even if she was, she wouldn't admit it."

Giles turned immediately, "Who's David?"

"A guy who teacher is a teacher at her school. They had a lot of the same classes together when Buffy went back for her degree and then they were in the same graduate program," Willow offered.

"And?" Giles inquired further.

"And what?"

"So they went to school together…." He said as he dug around in some books, "That doesn't mean… anything more than that."

"Oh, they dated," Dawn said, "He's crazy about her. She thought he was too clingy."

"But, Dawn, didn't you say that they were spending more time together?" Xander spoke from the couch.

"Yeah…they've got some projects at work together. She's been really cagey about her whereabouts so they could be going out after work…."

"Okay, we can deal with her love life later," Xander joined them at the table, "What I really want to know about is this British demon tormenting her and Giles."

Willow cringed, "The description 'British demon' is wrong on so many levels."

"Furthermore, I've been tormented by a demon before, this is far from torment," Giles challenged.

"Whatever," Xander dismissed, "Have you gotten anywhere with that?"

"No, we've been looking into it. Just haven't come up with anything," Giles said.

"She told Giles that she didn't pick up any souvenirs," Willow said, "You know, Xander, enchanted emulates and such….."

"You do something once and it's never forgiven!"

Willow continued, "So that pretty well limits the possibilities."

"What's the plan then, going forwards?" Dawn asked.

"I'm going to ask her for a list of all the places she visited. Then I will cross reference each individual location to their known demons and, hopefully, find something that matches our situation."

"What I really want to know is why only you and Buffy can hear it," Dawn inquired, "I live here and have never heard it. You're barely here for an hour and you hear it. How does that make sense?"

"It's probably a Slayer-Watcher thing, Dawn," Willow answered, "Until I went to England with Giles to study at the coven, I didn't have the slightest inkling to the enormity of that relationship. There's lots of power and magic between the two…. It is probable that Giles is just experiencing the enchantment through Buffy."

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Giles agreed, "It would be helpful, tough, if she were around to answer more questions…."

Just then, Buffy walked through the front door and found them all staring at her

"Did I miss something?"

"Nope, we were just talking about you," Xander smirked.

"What about me?"

"Just about your boyfriend and your current demonic stalker…. Hopefully, not on in the same."

Her eyes narrowed at Xander and she fought the urge to look at Giles.

She quickly changed the subject, "Are we going patrolling or not?"

"Of course," Willow said, "We're just wrapping up. We're thinking that you can take Giles out and show him the hotspots on the north side like you did for us last night…. And the rest of us will take some of the other local slayers to the human 'hot spots', for lack of better words, so we can try to cut down on the human deaths tolls."

Buffy thought for a moment, "That sounds good."

* * *

"You know, notwithstanding the demon invasion, you and Dawn have chosen a beautiful city to establish yourselves in," Giles said, trying to break the silence with Buffy.

"Yes, I know. We wanted to stay in California, but didn't want anything as big a LA and didn't want to go as far south as San Diego."

They had been patrolling for over two hours and she had not said anything outside of what was necessary to explain the ends and outs of the city. It was his intention to gauge whether she was still up-set with him, but that proved difficult when she was all business. Perhaps, though, that alone showed how she felt.

"You want to stop and grab a drink?" she suddenly asked.

"Uhh…."

"Water, Giles. I'm thirsty."

"Oh! Sure."

She went into a pharmacy and came out several minutes later with two water bottles. Much to his surprise, when they entered their next location, a local park, she sat down on a bench. He followed suit.

Resting in the middle of a patrol, this was new.

"Are you being afflicted in another way by this demon?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's just that Dawn expressed to me that you seemed more tired as of late and she…feels as though you are keeping something from her."

She took a swig of water and said flatly, "That is because I am more tired and I am keeping something from her…. But it has nothing to do with whatever has infiltrated my mind." Suddenly, she turned to him, "Did you have a dream last night?!"

"YES! That was…. YOU?!"

"What the hell is going on? "

"Some sort of dream-telepathy, Buffy…."

"But why? HOW?"

"I don't know…. Willow and I were working off the assumption that I was experiencing what you were though our Slayer-Watcher bond... but last night in the dream, I wasn't just 'experiencing'. I participated."

"Did you guys talk about the dream?"

"No, I was waiting to speak with you!" he raised his voice, "As much as it felt real, I had no idea whether it was."

"I'm sorry that I wasn't around today…. I had some personal stuff to take care of."

He took in the sight of her. Dawn was right, there was something going on.

"This thing that you are keeping from Dawn and is making you tired," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes, and here he is again... excuse me."

Suddenly, she jumped off the bench and walked out of ear shot to answer her phone. When she hung up, she walked back and threw her empty bottle in the nearby trash.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"Of course."

They walked a little ways before Giles spoke.

"I'm happy that you...have someone, uh, special in your life."

Buffy abruptly stopped, "I don't know what they told you, but I'm not seeing anyone, Giles. There's no one... 'special' in my life. That's not what that phone call was about."

"It's okay, Buff-"

"No, Giles. Listen. For the record, I'm not involved anyone.

"Well, it's not really any of my business anyway... But it would be okay if you were."

"I'm not!" she yelled unexpectedly.

Unsure what to say, he nodded.

"Also!" she cleared her throat and brought her voice down to a normal level, "I want to say that I'm sorry for how we left things and I'm sorry for a lot of other things..." She continued on, "I didn't visit you in Devon so that we could fight, I wanted to make up…. But that thing in Rome with Faith and Angel earlier in the summer brought back some old memories and I shouldn't have come to see you until I had worked that out completely."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't try-"

"No, listen," tears began to well up in her eyes, "Do not ever apologize to me for doing what you think is right. Let me talk. This is what I wanted to say when I came to your house, but… all I felt was anger about the past."

She paused to allow herself to gather her thoughts, "I…we never really talked about Sunnydale. You've apologized, I've gotten mad, you've gotten mad, then we separated. When we've come back together, we have either fought or pretended like nothing was wrong between us."

"No part of me liked not talking to you, but our years apart were important to me. I grew so much as a person…. Traveling, seeing the world, going back for my degree, getting my master's and just letting time heal the wounds. I'm proud of myself for doing all that by myself. I needed that time on my own to figure things out. I understand why you did everything you did in Sunnydale…. But I felt betrayed by you over and over again. When the world was about to end nonetheless! And it hurt. More than it hurt to watch Dawn, Willow, and Xander turn away from me..." she let the tears fall freely, "You are my watcher and more than that, we had been through so much together on a personal level…. It hurt so much that you didn't trust any of my decisions."

She stopped and took several breaths, "You can talk now."

"I-I…I don't know what to say."

"Or not," she wiped away her tears with her sleeve, "I pour my heart out, you don't have to say anything."

"Buffy…." he wiped away a few of her tears, "I left you by yourself in Sunnydale so that you would be more independent but…once the Hell Mouth began to open, I feared that you had lost your way like Willow had not long before. Whether it was getting the chip out of Spike or how you wanted to proceed in the crisis, it looked like you had lost your way. I realize now that you were acting on instinct and what felt right, but at the time it looked as though you'd gone soft. We as human beings need people around us to tell us when they think we're wrong and that was what I thought I was doing for you…. But as it turns out, I was the one wrong about so many things…. Spike for starters, he had a good soul and saved us all. Trust me, I think all the time about what would have happened if Robin and I had killed him. It eats me away to know that that would have practically ended the world, right there. You saw the good in him and your instincts told you to trust him. The same goes for how you knew what do to defeat The First Evil. I shudder to think what would have happened if you had listened to me and the others, but it was that kind of independence that I had hoped you would gain when I left. It took me a long time to recognize that myself."

He slid his hands down her arm and squeezed her hand, "I'm glad you don't want any apologies from me for doing what I thought was right…. But I will say that I am sorry for hurting you—I don't ever want to hurt you. I am sorry for causing you any kind of pain. I know, given the situation, it was... unavoidable, or at least I thought it was. But I still am sorry. I swear I won't hurt you like that again."

"I don't want you to not cause me pain. I don't want you to say that you won't hurt me. I may need to be told that I'm wrong again, and I don't want you to hold your tongue because you were so damn wrong the first time."

That made him laugh.

"Seriously, Giles. If we can make it through you being wrong about how to save the world, we can make it through anything," she wiped more tears, "So I don't want you to hold back."

He cupped her face, "I promise to never hold back."

She enveloped him in a hug.

They stayed like that for several moments before he pushed her to arm's length and said, "And about all these years we've been apart, not really speaking…. Even though I agree that our time apart was good for us, let's agree to never do that again. Let's never allow anything to fester between us like that again." He reached down and grabbed her other hand before continuing, "I had to set my head right, too…. I realized that I'm at my best when I'm with you. And I don't care much to be away from you."

Reaching up, she brushed some hair from his forehead. Her intense stare made him wonder what she was about to do, but he figured out too late. He was not prepared when she threw him aside so she could stake one of the three vampires coming at them. He sat stunned on the grass for a moment. Jumping up off the ground, he threw himself into the scuffle.

* * *

 _A/N: Please review!_

 _Also, the line "I'm at my best when I'm with you" is from the comic books._


	3. The Curse

_A/N: Thank you, Jullez, for reviewing! And thanks to everyone else for the favorites and follows! I really appreciate it!_

* * *

It was well past noon before Buffy got out of bed the next day. She found a note from Giles stuck on the fridge.

 _"Buffy,_

 _Willow and I are out investigating how the sudden surge of magic here in San Francisco could be causing our telepathic connection. The others are fighting demons underground in the tunnels and they would appreciate your presence. Breakfast is in the oven._

 _-Giles"_

How was she to get out of this? She sighed. That could wait. For now, she would eat.

* * *

"Buff, Where've you been?!" Xander exclaimed as Buffy entered the apartment.

"Training slayers. Exactly what I do every Sunday."

"Where do you get off treating this as any other Sunday?" Faith stepped forward, "We're out there getting our asses kicked while you're playing patty-cake!"

"If they don't get trained, there's no one to help us."

"I think what Faith is trying to say…" Robin said, placing a pack of ice to his busted lip, "Is that the more immediate issue is that San Francisco is under attack and training slayers might can wait until after _this_ apocalypse."

Buffy's eyes went wide "Has the status been updated to 'apocalypse'?"

"Oh, no," Giles looked up from his spot on the couch, "Just situation 'bad'."

Faith continued, "It just would be nice to have you out there with us on the front-lines protecting _your_ city."

"Yes, well, you're only here temporarily," Buffy threw her bag on the floor, ready for a confrontation, "As soon as you leave, I'm back by myself with my trainees. I'm less concerned about you, the apocalypses veterans, than I am the Vampire Slayers, whom never _actually_ seen a vampire."

"And what about this curse of yours?! Giles and Willow have spent the whole day researching by their selves! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN HELPING."

At this point, Buffy could tell that Faith had taken a good beating herself. But that still didn't mean that she was going to take any crap from her.

"I HAVE BEEN RESEARCHING THAT FOR MONTHS! I assure you, they're not reading anything that I haven't already."

"Hey, I have an idea!" Xander said as he stepped between them, "Why don't we sit and sing Kumbaya?"

Faith threw her ice-pack at him and stormed out, "I have to get ready for battle tonight… BECAUSE WE WILL BE ALONE."

Putting his ice-pack on the table, Robin stood, "And as I'm not a slayer, I need a nap before battle. See you guys later." He walked past Buffy and out the door, seemingly indifferent to the fight.

She looked at the others, who exchanged looks. Wordlessly, she turned and went to her room.

Willow looked, wide eyed, at Dawn, "What is going on with her?"

"I can tell you what's wrong with her, Will!" Xander exclaimed, "She has had a demon in her head for months! That has to take a toll on a person."

Dawn replied, "I don't know what it is. She's shut me out. Our relationship had been pretty good up until she came back from her trip. It might be the demon."

"What do you think, Giles? You two seem to be getting along. How did she seem last night on patrol?" Willow asked.

He shook his head, "Maybe a little distracted, but nothing too serious."

That wasn't the complete truth, he knew.

"Well, to be continued…." Willow said, "Dawn, Xander, we should get going if we're want any fresh ingredients."

"Eyes, goats blood, toes, intestines, tongues… That stuff is bad enough dried. I don't need the fresh 'dead thing' smell in my car," Xander whined.

"Too late," Dawn smirked, "You already offered to drive us."

* * *

There was a knock on her door.

"It's me. May I come in?" Giles spoke softly.

"Yes," Buffy replied as she zipped up her hoodie.

"Do you need anything from the underground market? Dawn, Willow, and Xander are going."

"Na, thanks for checking though."

He closed the door.

"Is there something else?"

"Yes, there is…" he took his glasses off and cleaned them.

" _Uh_ _oh_ ," Buffy thought as she sat down on her bed. It occurred to her that that was the first time since he'd arrived that she has seen him clean his glasses.

He continued, "…I want to speak openly with you. Like I used to. Like we used to."

"There's no reason why you can't. Why we can't."

"But there are many reasons. Of which the most important is that our relationship is… in an awkward place. I don't want to…."

"Giles, we did a lot of awkward talking last night."

" _Yes…._ But we didn't talk about _everything_."

"…. you want to talk about _that?_ "

"No, no…. Yes! Well, sometime. But that's not what I came in here for."

"Well, you could have fooled me. You just charge in my bedroom, shut us in as everyone else is leaving…."

He smiled, "Yes, well..."

"Talk. About whatever."

"Buffy, I want you to tell me what's going on…. There's something going on with you. Faith is right that you should have been helping them. Whatever is going on here is quite significant and we can't afford for you to be sitting on the bench."

"What to do want me to say?"

"Whatever you're not saying. Has this enchantment affected you in some way you have not revealed?"

"No, it's nothing like that, Giles. I've got problems in the more... _human_ aspects of life."

She looked at him, hoping that he would give her an out, but he remained steadfast.

She wasn't ready to talk about this yet.

"It's my dad…. Right after I got back this summer, he called said he and his wife were in town and wanted to meet up…. Well, long story short. He has cancer…. Well, might have cancer. He had already gone through a lot of chemo and they're waiting to see if he's in remission. Don't really know how long or if he'll live…... Right now, he's in a Sacramento hospital with pneumonia."

"Oh, Buffy…." He walked over and sat next to her on the bed, "I feel like a prat."

She stifled a laugh and wiped away a stray tear.

"I don't know what to say," he leaned into her, "I'm sorry…."

She shrugged, "If you have a good idea how to bring this up with Dawn, I'm all ears."

"Right…."

"I don't know how caught up you are on that…"

"Um, caught up, I believe. His wife didn't want you at their wedding and Dawn hasn't spoken to him since."

"Yeah… I tried to be open to communication with them, he is, after all, the only family we have left, but Dawn completely cut him off."

"How bad is the pneumonia?"

"Pretty bad, but they expect him to pull through it."

Suddenly, they heard the front door open.

"GILES! GILES!" Willow yelled.

"What in God's name?" he stood and opened the door, "I swear they had left."

"GILES! COME HERE!"

"What is it, Willow?!" Giles said turning the corner.

He stopped in his tracks at the sight before him. Never in a million years had he expected this.

"Auntie Vin! Auntie Sophie!"

"Rupee!" the two women screamed in unison.

"Wha-" he was cut off by his aunts squeezing him with much disregard to his breathing.

He returned the embrace.

When they pulled away from each other, his Aunt Vin whopped him with her gloves.

Their demeanor's changed completely.

"What in the hell did you do, Rupert?!" his Aunt Sophie exclaimed.

"What?! What are you talking about?"

"Did you wake a Quart Demon?" Vin questioned.

"No."

"Breach a curse on your mother's soul?" Sophie asked.

"No!"

"Kill or maim a zebra?" Vin asked.

"What? No! Now, tell me what this is about!"

"We feel a cosmological familial shift!" Vin said.

"Come again?"

"We sensed something was different, Rupert…." Sophie said, "So we went down to Englegrove Castle and found THE SEAL broken."

"It wasn't something you two did?"

They both swatted him with their gloves.

"IT WAS THE GILES SEAL!" Vin emphasized, "We couldn't have done it!"

"Anyway," Sophie said, "We tried to trace it and our magic brought us to you. Willow told us about how you and your slayer are under enchantment."

"You must be Buffy!" Vin spotted Buffy a few steps behind Giles. She enveloped the slayer in a hug and her sister followed suit. Buffy stood shocked from the scene she just witnessed.

"Rupee has told us so much about you!" Sophie exclaimed.

"Buffy, these are my Great Aunts Lavinia and Sophronia Fairweather," Giles said while trying to get between her and his aunts.

There was nothing to prepare her for this. Both Lavinia and Sophronia were beautiful young ladies, they looked about Dawn's age, early-to-mid-twenties. Willow had said that she got to know his aunts and that they used their magic to preserve their age, but it was something else to witness in person.

* * *

"Well, how could I have done it?!" Giles paced back and forth in the kitchen, "How could I have broken the seal?"

Vin rolled her shoulders back, "Who knows?"

"What exactly is so significant about this seal?" Buffy asked.

Willow answered, "Every family in The Watchers Council has their family crest placed, in form of a seal, in the Englegrove Castle to commemorate that family's loyalty to the council for all of eternity. You know, that is of the old council. None of the new watchers have anything like it."

"And what is the significance of it being broken?" Dawn asked.

"Don't know," Giles replied, "It's never happened before."

"A place as scared as that, though, you can bet it means something bad," Willow surmised.

"There was a magical force in the castle that did not belong," Sophie offered.

Vin looked around, "Much like this city…."

"Are you telling me that the magic is one in the same? That whatever I did to break the seal caused San Francisco to come under attack?"

"I couldn't tell you that, nephew. Just the magic I feel here is… comparable," Vin replied.

Sophie stepped in front of him, "You honestly don't know what you did, Rupert?"

"No, Aunt Sophie. All I have done is travel around to train and organize watchers. I _haven't_ been committing any sacrilegious offences."

Vin stood and said, "This isn't going to be solved tonight. Let's all call it a night so Sophie and I can get settled in. We can pick this back up tomorrow."

"It's barley six 'o clock! There's plenty of time to talk," Giles said, confused.

"Yes, the night is young, Rupee", Vin smiled, "That's why we want to get out of here before the demons are out."

"I take it that you heard it's fashion week then," Giles deadpanned.

She smirked, "Might have."

* * *

When Buffy returned from patrol later that night, she found Giles' light still on.

"Find anything yet?"

He jumped, "I didn't hear you come in…. And, no, nothing."

"What are you thinking?" she sat on the daybed.

He had found a bottle of scotch and he was drinking a class.

"I'm thinking about what else I could have done to disappoint my father as a child—I suddenly wish I had done more," he laughed, "And I also didn't know you drank scotch."

"I don't often…. That's actually your bottle."

His brow furrowed as he examined the bottle, "Humph."

Buffy continued, "I think you're thinking about something that you didn't want to share with the others."

"Yes, right…." He placed the bottle down and looked towards the stairs, "Did Dawn get home?"

"No, she's spending the night with Xander and Willow."

"Ah…. Then, yes, I am thinking about something that I didn't want to share with the others."

"You think we did this?"

"I think it's a strong possibility. I can't think of anything else we would have done… that was out of the ordinary."

"Is there some sort of rule?"

"Well, of course! But just a rule. The sort of rule that would get your watcher status revoked, not cause anything like this."

"But how would anyone have found out?" Buffy asked.

They were inching into the territory that they hadn't talked about, yet, and it made her nervous.

"I didn't tell anyone. Did you tell anyone here?"

"No! Why in the hell would I go around and tell people about our one-night stand?" she was a little more defensive than she meant to be, but the whole situation hurt.

He looked down in his class and rubbed his temples. That stung.

Technically, that was an accurate description but he would have never called it that.

"This can't be the first time in history that a slayer and watcher…slept together," Buffy said.

"No, no, of course not. But there's not much written on it either. There is one documented case that involved the removal of a watcher for…an 'inappropriate act', in 1855. No record of anything strange accompanying it."

"Only one!" Buffy said in disbelief, "You've got men mentoring girls in the fight against evil. I speak from experience that that relationship can get… intense."

He laughed, "I said _documented_ case. I'm sure it happened more. A few personal journals of my predecessors alluded to such."

"Oh, great! Men will be men. They documented their conquest for their male brethren for all of eternity."

He tilled his head at her, eyes narrowed, "The vast majority of it was written in good taste, Buffy. A caution to their successors about how 'intense' that relationship can get."

She looked down, "So why would we be different?"

"I don't know. There are puzzle pieces slung everywhere. None of it really makes any sense when put together."

"Also, there are currently hundreds of watchers and slayers around the world. One or two have to be sleeping together. Why isn't all hell breaking loose in other cities?"

"Again, I don't know. I say that…. I do think there's an explanation there."

"Such as?"

"This stays between you and me, Buffy. I have too much responsibility in the council for this to become a problem among the slayers and other watchers."

She nodded and he continued, "I do believe on a cosmological level, you are _The True Slayer_ and I am supposed to _The Watcher_. The other slayers' power originates from you. It worries me, the kind of situation we have developed. All these innocent girls are training with _your_ immense power, but I fear the other shoe may drop…. Their power is not certain. I'm afraid that someone, something, will find a way to terminate the connection. That would make every, single, girl a target. There would be a genocide of all the known slayers…."

This weighed on him greatly, she could see. It was not anything that she had ever thought about before. However, he has spent the last seven years organizing watchers around the world. It was probably the only thing he thought about.

"But that's neither here nor there…." He continued to rub his temples, "I do believe, though, that we are being judged, by someone, with a different set of standards than the others."

"Any idea who?"

He drew a shaky breath, finished his glass of scotch, and poured another.

"My father."

"I'm sorry, I thought I just heard you say your father."

He nodded.

"Explain."

"That voice we hear…. I think it's his. I thought I was crazy for even thinking it, that is, until my aunts showed up."

"Why would he, personally, care that you and I had sex?"

As soon as she said that, she realized that she didn't even know if his father was alive or dead. She believed that he was dead, but she was speaking as tough he was alive.

He shrugged and said distantly, "Maybe he believes that I disgraced the Giles name, again."

"He's dead, is he not? How could he do it?"

"A hex…. Just waiting for me to screw-up."

"And I thought I had a bad father…."

He looked at her, "I don't have answers, Buffy…."

Wordlessly, she stood and walked over to him. She took the drink from his hand and put the lid back on the bottle.

She reached for his hands. He obliged and she pulled him to his unsteady feet.

"Giles, I don't expect you to. You and I started this, you and I will figure it out and end it."

He traced the side of her face his fingertips. The proximity to the scotch on his breath suddenly made her stomach churn.

"I need…" she said, as she flew down the steps, "Bathroom."

He followed her down stairs and stopped at the closed bathroom door. He could hear her throwing up.

"Can I get you anything, Buffy?"

"Umm… could you take a glass of water to my bedroom?" she replied through the door.

"Of course."

She found him sitting on the floor of her room leaning against her bed. He used to not think twice about sitting on her bed, but after they had been intimate, he sat on the floor?

 _"His old proper British tendencies,"_ she thought.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just some bad shrimp."

She took the glass of water from him and drank half of it at once. Hearing a thud, she turned to find Giles passed out—the noise was from his head hitting the base of her foot-board.

She smiled and thought, _"He's going to think that he was attacked in the morning."_

Leaning down, she examined his hair for blood. Finding none, she thought about what to do with him. What she was planning to do felt weird to her. In domestic situations, she had only ever picked up Dawn and taken her to bed. Never a friend...or significant other. Nonetheless, she wasn't going to leave him there all night.

* * *

 _A/N: Thanks for reading!_


	4. Sill Crazy After All These Years

The next morning, Giles awoke and found that he was not in the daybed. The bed he was in was immensely more comfortable and had better pillows. Habitually, he reached out for his glasses on the night stand, but it was not the distance he was used to at home causing him to knock something to the floor. Putting on his glasses, he adjusted his eyes to the light in the room. It took himself several seconds to gather his thoughts, but the last thing he remembered was being on her floor—he didn't know how he ended up in her bed. He looked down and saw that he knocked over a bottle of aspirin. Grabbing it, he noticed the of water on the nightstand.

 _"Buffy,"_ he thought, _"I need to not do this to myself."_

Not only that, though. He also needed to figure out what he was going to tell his aunts and Willow. He wanted their help—more than that, needed their help, but he didn't want to get into his and Buffy's private affairs. It was going to be a long day.

It was almost five o' clock before Buffy made it to Willow's apartment. A couple of parents wanted to speak with her after class and they kept her much later than what she really had time for. When she arrived, she caught the middle of a discussion between Giles, his aunts, Dawn, and Willow.

"Let's ignore, for the moment, how this happened. And focus on why it is happening," Giles said, "To what end would my father do this? As creepy and disconcerting as hearing his voice in my head, I don't really see the point. And why bring all the demons to San Francisco? Some misplaced punishment?"

"Well, I could easily see him bringing death and mayhem to a place as beautiful and welcoming a San Francisco," Vin replied.

"As contrary he was to our philosophy of life and aside from being a general ass hole," Sophie said, "it's hard to see that he would taunt Rupert like this…. He was always more direct. Hello, Buffy."

The others turned and greeted her.

"Sorry, I'm late."

"You haven't missed much, I'm afraid," Giles shook his head in frustration and threw a book on to the table.

Dawn held her hand up and said, "I hate to suggest this… but can't we just hold a séance and ask him?"

"Ehhh…." Willow froze at the suggestion.

Giles didn't react, but the sisters eyed each other.

"He's not a good candidate for a séance," Willow said as she sent Dawn a 'don't go there' look.

"What if we make him a good candidate?" Giles said.

"How exactly are you going to do that?" Vin asked.

"I have a lot of sway in the council, now. I can get documents, people will talk."

Sophie stood and wagged her finger at him, "You don't need to go there, Rupee!"

"Apparently, I do. We're getting nowhere."

He stood thinking for a few moments and then grabbed his jacket.

"I'm going to look into it. Thank you, Dawn."

He left without another word and his aunts chased after him.

"What did I just witness or what did I miss or what am I missing?" Buffy asked, confused.

Willow looked worried.

"What do you know about his father's death?", Willow asked.

"Nothing, really…." Buffy replied.

The witch sighed, "I wish you hadn't of suggested that, Dawn. I was hoping that he wouldn't get the idea himself."

"What?" Dawn asked.

"His father died… disappeared, rather, under unknown circumstances. He went out on council business and never came back."

"Oh, god…." Buffy said, sitting down next to them on the couch.

"We can't…. No ethical witch or warlock would ever conger a spirit without knowing the last moments of death. If he was suffering or otherwise cursed, we could hinder his soul from ever finding peace."

"I've never even heard him talk about his father…." Dawn said.

Buffy squeezed her sister's hand "He... They didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things…."

"Uh, Dawn, don't you have class at six?" Willow asked.

"Yeah…I didn't know that it was this late…."

Once Dawn left Buffy turned to Willow, "Will, on a scale of one to ten, how bad is this whole thing."

"Oh, I would say about a twenty. As I said before, I learned a lot about the slayer-watcher relationship when I went to the coven…. I also learned a lot about the watchers and their relationship to the council as a whole."

"Okay… I'm listening."

"It's just that the watchers and their families dedicate their lives—their lineage to the cause. Whatever is happening has to be severe for the Giles seal to be broken. Someone or something has deemed something Giles did to be undeserving of his family's honor."

"But in all of your studying there, you didn't happen to hear what a watcher could do to be undeserving of his family's honor? Or maybe what his slayer could do to cause this as well."

"Oh, Buffy…. There's nothing you could have done to cause this. Giles probably just lost his father's favorite book or something…." Willow waved her hand dismissively, "Can you do me a favor tonight? I know that you've probably got plans the patrol with Faith and Robin, but I could use some help."

"Always. What do you need?"

"I need to perform a tracking spell tonight and I need protection from demon intervention. It could take me across the city."

That didn't sound too dangerous…. And It gave her a reasonable excuse not to join Faith and Robin patrolling.

"Sure. That will be great field experience for my slayers."

* * *

"His blood pressure and oxygen are low, but his fever is down…. I want to keep you here for a few extra days, Hank."

"What's the bottom line, doc?" Buffy said, "What about his breathing?"

"His chest will feel tight for a while, until the nebulizer treatment fully takes effect. We're getting things ready to take him up to x-ray as we speak so we can re-check his lungs…."

"Actually, doctor, we can take him up now," a nurse said from the door.

Buffy, her step-mother, Paige, and her two step-sisters, Megan and Ashley followed the doctor and nurses pushing Hank Summers out into the corridor.

"Do you, girls, want anything from the vending machines? I think I'll make a run down there," Paige said.

"I do!" replied Megan.

"Yes!" said Amanda.

Buffy shook her head, "No, thank you. I'm fine."

"Really, Buffy, something to drink?" her step-mother asked again.

"I…" Buffy trailed off when she saw her watcher down the hall, "I'll… take a bottle of water."

Buffy waited until the three had walked out of sight before walking towards Giles.

She seemed neutral to his presence, "How did you know where I was?"

"I felt that you would be here."

"You drove almost two hours on a feeling?"

"Well, Willow said that you told her you had papers to grade but when I got home, Dawn said you were patrolling, so I went with the third option…."

She smiled, "I'm glad. Let's sit."

Once they sat down on a nearby couch, she froze, "How did you know what hospital?"

"Oh, I felt that too."

"Please tell me you're joking and our telepathy thing has not gone _that_ far. Last thing I need is for you to be in my head."

"Would that be such a bad thing?"

She nodded her head.

"Well, don't fear…. I saw a note in your room with this hospital's name on it. I just Googled for the address."

"You weren't snooping in my mind, just my room. That's a lot better," she joked.

"No… I mean, I was… it was…" he stumbled.

"I'm messing with you, Giles."

"Please don't. I've not had that kind of year."

"Wow. At least Drunk Giles still has a sense of humor."

He took his glasses off and cleaned them, "I am sorry about that…. Normally no one is around so it doesn't matter if I have a little too much to drink. I got too caught up in my thoughts last night and didn't think…."

"Please tell me you're not _drinking_ again like when you stopped being my watcher…. Having another existential crisis."

"I wouldn't say that…." He abruptly laughed, "Okay, maybe. Just a _tiny_ existential crisis. I didn't do _anything_ last night, did I?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know…. The last thing I remember was sitting on the floor of your room for some reason and I don't really remember"

"That's because you did black out. And you hit your hit on the way down….."

"I wasn't attacked?!"

She laughed, "I'm afraid not, Giles."

"I-I…I didn't, eh, come on to you, last night, did I? Or anything like that…because I woke up in your bed."

"Well, half way through the night you did throw your arm around me and spooned me. But I didn't mind…." She grabbed his arm, "You were a perfect English gentleman. I was the one who put you in my bed after you blacked-out."

He deadpanned, "That's a little emasculating…."

They shared a laugh before silence fell between them. She rested her head on his shoulder and he grabbed her hand in return. His touch surged through her.

"How's your father?" he asked.

"Okay. He had an asthma attack a little while ago…. His doctor didn't act like it was a big deal. I think it freaked us out more than anything."

"His wife and her daughters?"

"Yep…. She's actually very nice. I like her… possibly more than my dad. But the girls…. I can't stand the oldest one."

"I wasn't expecting that…about his wife, I mean. I thought she was… well to quote Dawn 'a self-righteous bitch'."

"Yeah, well, you know, I can understand her not wanting her family to be around me. People tend to drop like files…." She laughed, "Whole cities tend to drop like flies! First Sunnydale, now San Francisco."

"Sunnydale was on a Hellmouth and San Fran…. Well, that's at least partially my fault somehow."

"Did you get anywhere with… whatever you ran out to do earlier?"

"No, not yet. I have calls out to the people who worked with my father and I'm having a few files pulled."

"What files and what people? I thought almost everything and everyone was lost in the explosion."

"Almost everything. A good portion of storage was under a protection spell that preserved the files…. And the men I put calls to came back from retirement to help us rebuild the council. There's a good portion of people from his era working for us again."

"Do you really want to hold a séance for your father?"

"Of course not…. I hardly wanted to speak with him while he was alive."

Squeezing his hand, she said, "I know what you mean."

He recoiled at the gesture. Seeing hurt flash across her face, he immediately regretted it. He didn't know why, but her touch was… overwhelming. Before he could offer an explanation, though, her step family returned.

"Buffy? Here's your water." Paige said, as she and her daughters approached the two on the couch.

They stood to greet to greet the trio.

"Thanks, Paige!" Buffy exclaimed, nervously.

"You're welcome," she replied, staring at Giles.

"Paige, Amanda, Megan, this is... my friend Gi-Rupert," Buffy mentally freaked. If she used his last name, it would sound weird and raise questions. But on the other hand, her personal use of Rupert was limited.

"Hello!" Giles extended his hand to Paige followed by her daughters. The apparent eldest refused.

"It's nice to meet you, Rupert," Paige said.

"Yes, likewise…. I should get going. I don't want to intrude."

"Actually," Paige said, "It's late, you girls should head out too."

"Are you guys sure you're okay at the hotel by yourselves? I can stay with you tonight." Buffy said to the girls.

"We're fine," Megan, the oldest, said quickly.

"I really appreciate it, but you have to work tomorrow and everything…. They'll be fine," Paige said, "It's not five minutes from here. They can call me."

"Okay, well, offer stands," Buffy replied.

"It would be great, though, if you all walked out together…. If, you, Rupert, wouldn't mind walking all of the girls to their cars, I'd feel a lot better."

"Of course, I'll see Amanda and Megan to theirs and then Buffy can make sure I get to mine," he said dryly.

Buffy feigned a laugh and discreetly stepped on his toes, "Ignore him. His sense of humor is… his own."

* * *

 _A/N: Hello all! I haven't forgotten about this story! I just need the right mood strike me to write. I'll probably post another soon so I can get some chapters up before my school semester starts. Let me know what you think!_


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